— After Hurricane Sandy hit New York and New Jersey, we opened a hotline for residents to report stranded pets and more than 1,300 calls came in asking for our help. Working with numerous public and private agencies in New York and New Jersey, our staff and volunteers rescued 257 animals, sheltered more than 500, and helped reunite more than 400 pets with their families.

— We also set up an emergency pet shelter and transported animals affected by tornadoes in Kentucky. In the wake of destructive wildfires in Western states, we donated hay to feed hundreds of threatened horses in Colorado, Montana, and Utah; provided food and water to pets left behind in Montana; and helped set up an emergency pet shelter in Idaho. After Hurricane Isaac, we helped care for pets in Jefferson Parish, La., and transported nearly 200 homeless animals from Louisiana and Mississippi to East Coast shelters to be placed for adoption. We also helped rescue more than 20 horses from floodwaters in Mississippi and helped save 10 emaciated horses in Alabama.

Tigers, cougars, leopards, wolf-hybrids, and a macaque monkey from the Collins Zoo, an unaccredited Mississippi facility where we had conducted an undercover investigation and submitted legal complaints

More than 120 dogs from poor conditions at a commercial breeding facility in Quebec

— The HSUS contributed $500,000 to construct sanctuary space for 110 federally-owned chimpanzees being transferred from at the NIH’s New Iberia Research Center to Chimp Haven, the federal chimpanzee sanctuary in Keithville, La.

— Ohio Gov. John Kasich signed legislation to ban new ownership of dangerous wild animals in the state. This move to protect public safety and animal welfare was part of an eight-point agreement among The HSUS, leading agricultural groups, and the previous governor.

— A report by the Environment Investigative Agency and Humane Society International revealed that Amazon.com's Japanese website was selling products from endangered and protected whale species. After tens of thousands of HSI supporters spoke out, Amazon added an official ban on selling whale and dolphin products on its U.S. and Japanese websites.

— A settlement stemming from The HSUS’s 2008 undercover investigation documenting extreme animal abuse at a slaughterhouse producing meat for America’s school lunch program resulted in a final, symbolic judgment against the Hallmark Meat Packing Company of nearly $500 million – the largest ever of its kind.

— California’s law against the sale of foie gras from force-fed ducks came under fire from a group of factory farmers and chefs who buy from them, arguing for a repeal, but The HSUS strongly lobbied to defend the ban. State legislative leaders announced that they wouldn’t take up any bill advanced by critics of the law.

— The U.S. District Court for the Central District of California upheld the constitutionality of Proposition 2–the California ballot measure banning the inhumane confinement of egg-laying hens, breeding pigs, and veal calves in cages so small the animals cannot stretch their limbs, lie down, or turn around.

— Our Pets for Life program providing animal care services to under-served communities expanded to Los Angeles, in addition to existing locations in Atlanta, Chicago, and Philadelphia. Pets for Life also released a new toolkit and a new report of survey findings showing a vast disparity in how pet care services are provided in lower-income communities.

— Other victories for companion animals:

The USDA also announced a proposed rule to close a loophole and require large-scale commercial breeders selling puppies or kittens online to be federally licensed and inspected, which would require basic standards of care. This comes after more than 32,000 people signed an HSUS/ASPCA petition urging the Obama administration to crack down on unregulated mills.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture finalized a new rule requiring mandatory minimum penalties for violations of the Horse Protection Act, a federal law to prevent soring. The HSUS and other animal protection and horse groups had filed a petition with USDA seeking to improve enforcement of the law.

In the U.S. House of Representatives, Reps. Ed Whitfield, R-Ky., and Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., introduced legislation to strengthen the Horse Protection Act and allow for a stronger crackdown on the widespread abuse within the Tennessee walking horse show world.

The Environmental Protection Agency announced the official registration of the first contraceptive vaccine for horses in the United States, called ZonaStat-H or porcine zona pellucida (PZP). The HSUS sponsored the registration, and the vaccine can now be used by wild horse managers for all Western herds.

After discussions with The HSUS, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department suspended a policy allowing burros in Big Bend Ranch State Park to be killed. We're working with the agency to develop a nonlethal plan to manage the animals.

When the Atlantic City Steel Pier announced plans to bring back an inhumane “horse diving” act, HSUS staff contacted state officials, spoke out against the plan, and applauded the subsequent decision to cancel the event.

Burger King pledged to switch 100 percent of eggs to cage-free at all U.S. locations by 2017.

Bon Appétit, another major food-service provider, committed to phase out eggs from caged hens, foie gras, veal from crated calves, and pork from supply systems using gestation crates by 2015.

Pork producer Hormel, maker of SPAM, committed to phase out gestation crates at its company-owned breeding facilities by 2017.

The U.S. Congress introduced bipartisan legislation to codify a landmark agreement between The HSUS and United Egg Producers, essentially doubling the space per laying hen, banning forced starvation molting, and creating a labeling program for eggs.

We released an undercover investigation that revealed appalling cruelty at Oklahoma factory farms owned by two of the nation's largest pork producers, Seaboard Foods and Prestage Farms. Our investigation found pigs living in cramped gestation crates for most of their lives, pigs with injuries and abscesses, and dead animals in the crates.

We released an undercover investigation of Wyoming Premium Farms that revealed disturbing abuse of mother pigs and piglets, as well as sows suffering in gestation crates. In response, meat industry giant Tyson Foods suspended its purchases from Wyoming Premium.